This boy of mine. He's like me in so many ways and yet also has his own distinct personality. I love this kid to pieces. Thanks, hubs, for snapping this photo of a rare moment where he was glad to have his Mama's cuddles.

Did you know that Saturday, October 26th was Make A Difference Day? Until this year, I had no idea that such a day existed. I do love that there's a whole day dedicated to making a difference in other's lives. Join me on Faith Gateway where I share how you, together with your kids, can make a difference both locally and globally.

Welcome to In The Studio, a place to show off your studio and meet some great artists! It's Studio JRU week, and as always she's sharing her fantastic work with us! Without further ado...

what... the end of october already?! is it just me or is this year flying by? the holidays are right around the corner!!

i am really excited to show you what has been going on in my studio this past month! i had such fun with this new piece. i experimented with some new techniques in my painting and loved how it all turned out. so after i was done with this piece... it thought a nice wide frame would finish it off wonderfully. i thought it would be a little bit of a different way to finish off an original painting. and it makes the entire piece just over 15" square... so a nice size on a wall! :)

and of course, i turned this original into prints as well. always try to make prints!

my sweet hubby also brought my 'display board' idea to life. i wanted a nice background to be able to take photos of my prints on. a thick, plain wood board with a clip is just what i wanted!

prints and original 'bless the Lord, o my soul', can be found in my shop!

i am really looking forward to visiting your 'studios' and seeing what kinds of wonderful, creative things you have all been up to!

and if you have creative friends... please share this link up with them so we can build a fun and encouraging community here. thank you!

Now it's your turn! Remember your "studio" can be anywhere. Let's celebrate each other's creativity by linking up and visiting as many as the other studios as you can. Check out the about post for more info and don't forget to grab the In The Studio button!

The hubs and I just returned on Sunday from a leader's weekend out in the middle of nowhere South of Johannesburg. We took the work trip as an opportunity to get away just the two of us for a night. We have our usual Protea Hotel in Pretoria that we love, but we thought, "No, let's live a little and try something new."

Boutique Hotel

It sounded like a good idea, especially when aircon, satellite TV, and free WIFI in all rooms was advertised. We didn't realize that it was in downtown Joburg where it's advised that you don't even walk around outside at night (perhaps even during the day for that matter). When asked about the WIFI at check-in, we were told that it wasn't working. "Ok," I thought. We don't HAVE to have Internet. Sometimes it's good to just be unplugged for a bit.

Upstairs we went to check out our "boutique room." Once there, a quick sweep around the stuffy room revealed no aircon. Ok, we can handle it. Jeremy turned on the TV to a message that said there was no satellite TV, because the bill wasn't paid. At this point, you have 2 choices. Get frustrated or laugh. I don't know that I laughed out loud, but definitely inside I was choosing the latter.

The next morning we decided to go down to the restaurant next door for breakfast. Our way down revealed some kind of massive water leak. Water through the halls and even in the restaurant. Frustration or laughter?

We decided to go ahead and check out of our room and investigate the antiques along Long Rd. We went down to hand in our key, and the door man informed us that the clerk went to the store. Seriously the only thing you can do at this point is laugh. Maybe boutique hotel in S. Africa isn't such a good idea? Or maybe I shouldn't stereotype and give it another go. We'll see. We did eat two fantastic curries while we were in the city. Can't get that in our neck of the woods!

Moral of the story...it's still good to live a little and risk. Sometimes it produces a new experience that you want to go back to. Sometimes it produces a memory that all you can do is laugh about.

Welcome to In The Studio, a place to show off your studio and meet some great artists! The text on this post will be short. I am away right now and thought I would do this post at the hotel where we're staying who advertised free wifi in all rooms. We show up and that wasn't the case. Fail. Doing an entire post on my phone takes forever!

Today I want to show you my favorite kind of studio...photography. I don't do as much photography right now because of the demands of other things, but oh, how I miss it. I recently did a quick photo session of one of our families on staff with us here in S. Africa. Here are some of my favs of mother and son. There's something so special about a mother's love, isn't there? I'm feeling inspired and thinking family portraits and mother and children portraits out in the communities would be so fantastic.

Now it's your turn! Remember your "studio" can be anywhere. Let's celebrate each other's creativity by linking up and visiting as many as the other studios as you can. Check out the about post for more info and don't forget to grab the In The Studio button!

Saturday was a scorcher. The high was 106F. I'm not sure if it reached that, but it was definitely hot. I know it gets that hot in Texas, but you see, here in S. Africa, we don't have central AC. Your options are to sweat it out at home, load up and go to the mall (where there is AC), or find water...quick. Saturday's option was finding water. Everyone else had the same idea, because it was busy.

Around these parts we talk about family. A lot. Our desire is that we wouldn't just be a random, unique group of individuals from different cultures working together, but that we would be a family that walks with each other through the good, the bad, the ugly. It's challenging at times but so worth it.

I love it when family time goes beyond the office walls into good, ole plain fun. Every family needs that. On Saturday's scorcher, we had a little family time at Mac Mac Pools. Burgers, water, laughter, I mean, really. What better way to spend a Saturday?

A lot of these photos were taken by the hubs while I went on a hike with my girlie. I did manage to snap the drowning African. I don't like to stereotype, but most Africans are scared of the water. I find that I'm in good company with my water phobia.

Welcome to In The Studio, a place to show off your studio and meet some great artists! Anyone else so glad it's Friday? I'm ready for a breather!

joshua's hand

Today I'm showing off some of our homeschool art inspired by something I found on Pinterest. Aren't these 3D hands so cool??

emma g's hand

Seriously, we were all amazed. Believe it or not, drawing those lines over and over was so relaxing. Pretty sure we'll do this again!

my hand

I wrote about birthdays last week on In The Studio. If you care to see how our hot pink, zebra, dress-up party went, click here! And if you want to get a glimpse into our crazy crew here in S. Africa, check out the Ten Thousand Homes music video! It's seriously awesome.

Now it's your turn! Remember your "studio" can be anywhere. Let's celebrate each other's creativity by linking up and visiting as many as the other studios as you can. Check out the about post for more info and don't forget to grab the In The Studio button!

My last scullery renovation post was July 25th. Sad but true. This is how it looked that week.

The progress has been slow, but sometimes that happens with renovations. All the tile is off the floor. The doorframe is out, and we've taken out part of the walls that were on either side of the doorframe. (I say "we" but it's actually hired labor.) We've also had to grind out for the electrical. Boy, was that a dusty job! Even with tarps up, my house was covered in a thin blanket of dust. Check out the dust flowing out of the windows!

The hubs is making a game plan for the scullery which has my heart all giddy. I'm so ready for it to be finished and functional!

We have a Season of Service program we run here at Ten Thousand Homes where individuals can come for 1-3 months and volunteer with our projects. During Laura's 3 months here, she took footage of all of our staff dancing and made this awesome music video as a thank you for her time here. Enjoy and don't laugh when you see the Price's. Promise? :)

Jeremy jokingly tells people he gave up his birthday when Emma Grace was born. While we always celebrate BOTH of them, parties have definitely turned to the girly kind. Hot pink? Zebra print? Dress-up? Yes, it's girly. I realized in the midst of birthday preparations that I never even asked Jeremy what dessert HE would like. His answer was, "I liked what you made. I didn't have to share my birthday when I was young." I love this man and his selflessness.

I went with a simple spread...apple juice, cracked black pepper and sea salt chips, popcorn, Granny Smith apples, and a tray of veggies. Emma G's request was strawberry shortcake (a favorite in our house) and some "zebra" cupcakes. I tried a new cupcake recipe. The title wasn't lying when it said they were the best cupcakes ever. So good! I doubled the recipe, then split it into two bowls. I added 4 tablespoons of cocoa to one bowl to make the dark part of the swirl.

While I had gathered a few things here and there over the course of a couple of months (hot pink containers for the flowers, zebra candles, hot pink plates, zebra napkins, and zebra cupcake papers), the day before the party, I started freaking out. What are we going to eat? What are we going to do at the party? I'm a planner and I always have a plan. I guess it's evidence of my season of life that I had no plan. Then it came to me. Let's do a dress-up photo shoot, I told Emma Grace. She loved the idea.

Jeremy went to buy feather boas and zebra print fabric while I gathered items for party favors. I was also excited to discover I had dark brown felt and bamboo skewers...perfect for mustaches!

Despite my last minute freaking out, the party came together and was a success. Whew!

Eagle's Talon was architect, Vance Nolan's, baby. Even though he had different ideas for who these upscale, floating apartments would benefit and highly disagreed with the turn Tony Dean, the investor, was taking, he still did his job with excellence. That's why it was such a shock when some of the buildings gave way and began to sink. Maybe there was an unforeseen sinkhole or maybe someone did it on purpose? It wasn't clear which. The only clear thing was that the group of survivors needed to work together and trust each other if they were going to survive the tragedy, the impending storm that was to follow, and the unnatural darkness that seemed to engulf them.

Review

Honestly, it took me a while to get through this book. I found it difficult to read, and I got a bit lost in the plot. I also found myself pausing frequently and trying to remember which character went with which name. The last three chapters picked up a bit but not enough to redeem the book for me. There was a good message in there. I just felt it got a bit watered down with an okay plot. I did enjoy seeing how the author showed that God had His hand on them throughout the book and that His love for us is incredible.

Out of 5 stars, I would give Afloat a 3.

Disclosure: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Welcome to In The Studio, a place to show off your studio and meet some great artists! Can you believe October is already here? While I do love the Spring here in S. Africa with the jacaranda trees blooming beautiful purple blooms, I do so miss the Autumn in America full of apples, baking, and the amazing color change of the leaves on the trees.

Before I rush too far into October, I must pause to let the lingering September birthday duo have their proper celebrations. Since Jeremy was out of country until their actual birthday, I decided to let Emma G have a sleepover with her friends and then we would celebrate with a party when he got back. I don't think she minded one bit because that meant more fun for her!

She was super easy...vanilla milkshakes in the evening and breakfast kebabs in the morning. I found this cute idea on Pinterest to dip the rim of the cup in white chocolate and then in sprinkles. You can keep it in the freezer until ready to use. So cute! I went looking for cute straws and found these with umbrellas. I knew she would LOVE them. I think she loved the straws more than the milkshake itself!

Breakfast kebabs were easy. Again we found the idea on Pinterest. Gotta love Pinterest. I made some French Toast and alternated that with bananas, strawberries, and grapes. All the kids absolutely loved them. They were yummy and fun! Well, that's the Friday, October 4th edition of my studio!

Now it's your turn! Remember your "studio" can be anywhere. Let's celebrate each other's creativity by linking up and visiting as many as the other studios as you can. Check out the about post for more info and don't forget to grab the In The Studio button!

About me

Creativity, adventure, family and love are a few of my favorite things. I have spent the last 22 years traveling the world in search of them. My husband and I co-founded, along with a friend, an organization called Ten Thousand Homes, a non-profit building futures and homes. In 2016, I started a social enterprise called The Reverie Guesthouse. I believe we can change the world. I have two beautiful children who teach me everyday. I enjoy writing and the occasional photo.